Manufacture of the cores of golf or like balls.



PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903.

P. A. MARTIN. MANUPAGTURE OF THE GORBS 0F GULF 0R LIKE BALLS-L APPLIOATION FILED SEPT: 8, 1903 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

NO IODBL.

- mvcuroa. akowmdl'ari J ain clf I WITNESSES UNITED STATES I Patented November 24, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

MANUFACTURE OF THE CQRES OF GOLF OR LIKE BALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,212, dated November 24, 1903.

Application filed September 8, 1903. Serial No. 172,361. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PATRICK ALPHONSUS MARTIN, manufacturer, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing in Granville street, Birmingham, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Mannfacture of the Cores of Golf or Like Balls, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to golf and analogous balls of the rubber-core type; andv it consists, essentially, in a novel method or process of producing or forming a high-tension rubber-wound or resilient core.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a longitudinal section of a ballcore in the course of production in accordancecwith my invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the said partly-formed core, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the-completed core. Fig. 4. shows the core placed in an opentopped cup of gutta-percha, whose mouth is closed over so as to inclose the said core, as represented in elevation in Fig. 5. Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the dies employed for giv-' ing the finished spherical form to the ball, as

shown in elevation in Fig. 7. Figs. 8 and 9 are views illustrating the method or process of producing the core, and Fig. 10 represents a portion of the length of rubber tubing employed in such process and the ferrule which is provided to facilitate the passing of the said tube onto the mandrel.

The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The core represented. in the said drawings is made or produced from a single piece or length of indie-rubber or other elastic tubing (1, which is first stretched upon a mandrel I), (see Fig. 8,) and then while one end a is held fast (by the hand of an operative or otherwise) the tube ispulled lengthwise or stretched along the mandrel in the direction of its length, and thus placed in a condition of high tension longitudinally. While the tube is in this state the material at the other end a is turned back or rolled over upon itself, as shown in Fig. 8, and this rolling is continued (gradually and progressively increasing the tension by pulling the material in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 9) until the whole of the tube has been in this way rolled up, and thus there is produced a thick ring of tensioned rubber, which-on being rolled off the smaller end of the mandrel contracts upon itself and assumes an approximately spherical form, as represented in Fig. 3, and in its internal structure the said spherical body comprises a series of V0- lute-coiled annular layers of material of increasing tension progressively from the center to the periphery or outer surface, each of the said layers (except the outermost one) being subjected to the collective contracting tendency of the encircling or inclosing layers, and at the same time each layer exercises a similar contracting eifect on the layers which are inclosed by it. Thus a section of a ball-core produced in the way described if taken longitudinallythat is, in the direction in which the tube or sleeve of tensioned or stretched material has been rolledpresents the appearance of two halves of approximately hemispherical form, each consisting of a series of coiled-up or volute-like annular layers,and by the mutual reaction of the inner layers-41. 6., the layers which come within the center of the core and parallel with the axis thereof-against one another centripetally the whole of the highlytensioned material in the said center is also highly compressed and is maintained in that state by the conditions set up when the ring contracts upon itself on being rolled off the mandrel. The core is thus endowed with exceptional powers of resilience, which are of special value in the case of golf and similar balls.

In the production of a high-tension core by A the method above described I prefer to make use of a stepped mandrel, such as b, (see Figs. 8 and 9,) which is made fast at the larger end I) to a suitable support, such as c.

This larger end of the mandrel is adapted to receive a loose ferrule d, which is of larger diameter than that of the rubber tube when the latter is in its normal andunstretched or untensioned condition; but the mandrel drel and drawn along until said ferrule comes onto the larger inner end of said mandrel and is secured or retained there in any suitable manner. The portion of the rubber tube which is stretched upon the ferrule is in longitudinal and circumferential tension and is rolled up first into an elastic ring, as shown in Fig. 8, and the rolling back of this part of the material is continued until it leaves the ferrule, when the rolled-up portion will contract onto and grip the mandrel itself. The remainder of thematerial is now stretched longitudinally and reduced in diameter to such an extent that it fits or conforms closely to the inner part of the mandrel, and while in this condition the rolling back is continued over the successive parts of the said mandrel, as shown in Fig. 9, until the whole of the material has been taken up into the volute-sectioned ring, which on being removed from the mandrel contracts, as already described, into the desired spherical form with a slight depression or concavity at each end.

The cores thus produced are inclosed in a gutta-percha covering or outer case, which may either consist of two hemispherical shells joined together after having been compressed around the core, or I may employ a'single shell of an elongated cup-like section, as represented in Fig. 4., into which the core is dropped and forced home or bedded down while the said cup is in a softened state prior to the gathering in and closing up of the mouth of the said shell either by hand or by suitable tools. The ball is then subjected to pressure between dies, such as shown in Fig.

6, to give the finished form thereto and is left between the dies until the gutta-percha has set or hardened in the spherical shape.

Having fully described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The manufacture or production of resilient high-tensioned cores for golf and like balls from a tubular length of india-rubber or other elastic material, which, while in a state of longitudinal tension, is rolled back upon inself into a ring which, on the completion of the rolling process, contracts circumferentially and assumes a globular or spherical form, substantially as herein described and set forth.

2. The manufacture or production of resilient high-tensioned cores for golf and like balls from a length of india-rubber or other elastic tubing by placing the said tubing on a stepped or other mandrel, applying longitudinal tension or stretch to the said tube and then rolling back the tensioned tube upon itself from one end into the form of a ring, which, on being removed from the mandrel, contracts circumferentially, or centripetally and assumes a globular or spherical form, substantially as herein described and set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PATRICK ALPHONSUS lllA RTIN.

Witnesses:

HENRY SKERRETT, ARTHUR SADLER. 

